Chapter 7 – Fight Flight
Several months had passed since the last time a Shen Gong Wu had been revealed and Syn was getting impatient, he began spending hours and hours in different cities across the globe to experience some form of civilisation which he had been deprived of for so long. On one occasion he had just came out onto a quiet alleyway after leaving a cinema house halfway through a movie and got into a spot of trouble. He recalled the event to Chase when he got back from it. "So the movie I went to see was awful and the effects were terrible so I just left. I obviously went out the back door so not to draw any unnecessary attention and of course, anybody who leaves a cinema house ends up in a dark alley with a dark damp ground, two brick walls on either side and it wouldn't be quite complete without the fire escape on the side of one building. Very cliché…" Syn began, relaxing in a chair retelling the story in detail. "So I detect this smell and I look around to see a shit-load of smoke deeper in the alleyway – sounds like a movie scene, right? – and there was a huge flame coming from a drain pipe, I go a bit closer and look towards it, standing right next to this smoke that I can't even see through. Next thing I know, BAM, some jack-ass punches me square in the jaw!" Chase interrupted, "I already know that that mortal is no longer with us". Syn stopped and laughed for a moment, then continued. "So, I'm just standing there with a punched jaw, bleeding too! The guy comes out of the smoke complaining; 'Hey, how come you're not dead?' and I notice he has barbed wire around his fist, probably why I bleed – which had stopped by now as the scepter was healing me as I went along – so I take his fist in mine, him obviously roaring, 'What're ye doing?' and such. I break his fist. Every single bone in his hand. Shattered. And while he's screaming in pain, four other guys come out of the smoke, all with barbed wire around their knuckles, so I do my thing. Bottom line, there's four dead guys in that New York Alleyway and one alive – but only just - , one died from the shock of a shattered fist, another snapped spine in five different places, the third has a huge gash in his skull starting at the corner of his eye going straight to his ear; and the next guy died from fall damage as I dropped him off a building; and the last guy is crawling his way to the side walk with thirty-six broken bones and severe head trauma. But besides that, good day"
Chase looked very concerned and began to talk to Synyster, "The fact that a Shen Gong Wu hasn't revealed itself in months has made you bored and it's going to result in slaughter, why don't you train with me? The monks are training, and the next time we meet them in battle, they will be more prepared to fight you".
Syn sat up in his chair looking grim and leaned on the table between him and Chase and whispered, "I am more than aware of the monks training and have been looking into the Shen Gong Wu thoroughly so I know all their secrets, using them against the monks so I will always have the upper-hand. My skill is extensive and the monks will certainly not stop me. And as to my boredom, if a Shen Gong Wu doesn't reveal itself in the next forty-eight hours, I will take the Xiaolin temple alone and retrieve every last one of them until the monks will embrace the desperate idea of an assault on this palace which you will be ready for and in turn, capturing them. Torturing them. Toying with them, until their will breaks and all that is left is the empty, hollow shells of what used to be, admirable opponents, understood?"
Chase swallowed hard and nervously nodded. Syn then got up in a rage and walked away casting what seemed like an ominous dark cloud of depression in his wake; but this scared Chase, and he has never been afraid of anything in his life, ever. Chase concluded that it was the power of the scepter amplified by the Shen Gong Wu that caused this; otherwise he would not have been so frightened by mere words. All that he could hope for now was that a Shen Gong Wu would reveal itself shortly, as to strafe the madness of an attack on the temple.
The monks had been under so much stress from Master Fung in the last few months that they were desperate to have a new Shen Gong Wu revealed, just to get away from all of it, the life advice in the form of riddles; the aching and throbbing muscles; the repetitive routine that got more and more painful after each repeat; and of course, one cranky Dojo. On one particular morning Dojo had just flew off and went into Hong Kong to visit his cousin Lau Kanojo Cho, who in turn fed him like a lord, resulting in Dojo getting food poisoning from the food in the restaurant he had invested in, which for a dragon is a difficult thing to treat, but luckily enough, Master Fung had sent for Master Monk Guan who knew exactly what to do. In fact he stayed awhile to help Dojo recover, which was a great relieve to the monks as he trained two days a week instead of Master Fung, but was quite lenient in comparison to last time he trained them.
Finally the day had come when a Shen Gong Wu revealed itself, it was a great relieve on both sides as Synyster was over-joyed and the monks were rushing to get out of the temple. Dojo had tracked the Wu to a skyscraper building in Chicago, Illinois. As the monks and Master Monk Guan dismounted Dojo, he began to speak, "I appreciate you having me along in your trip to retrieve the Shen Gong Wu, but I am curious. Do they always happen to be on the top floor of a man-made building?" Dojo hopped onto Master Monk Guan's shoulders and answered him, "You see, the normal people of the world see shiny, mysterious objects and put a price on them; sell them off to the guy that flashes the most cash, and unfortunately for us, this one's from Chi-town. Hold onto your wallets kids". The Monks approached the building and entered, but security interfered. "Sorry folks. This building is off limits to any unauthorised personal" exclaimed a security guard as the monks passed through the revolving which Omi had stopped to admire like a child admiring a new toy. The monks did not want to get involved in an unnecessary fight with a civilian so they just backed out, grabbing Omi by the collar and lifting him into the air as they did so. They regrouped around the side of the building and began to discuss a way in. "What are we gonna do guys? We can't get passed those guards easily and I don't have an influential way in like when we got the Golden Tiger Claws" Kimiko started, Omi was heard in the background complaining that he misses the tiger claws before Raimundo interjected, "How about I fly up to the top and break in through the window of the office where it is?" Clay shot this idea down immediately, "But you don't know if it'll be the right office or what the Wu even looks like Rai, and for all we know, the guy that has it could 'ave a ton of weird artefacts" While the monks continued to talk Master Monk Guan asked for the Changing Chopsticks from Dojo and he used them to increase a few small objects in his hand in size. This growth got the attention of the other monks promptly; the objects were all the same, there were five Spears of Guan, the Master Monk's favourite weapon, custom made. "Follow my lead my monks" He then reached down and grabbed one, producing a chain from between the spear point and the stem he began to swing it around like a lasso and tossed the spear into the solid wall of the building and then ran towards it, still firmly wielding the stem, The master then ran straight up the wall and began to hang where he was with the chain secured in the wall though he didn't hang too long as he began climbing up until he was level with the spear and in the blink of an eye he pulled the spear out of the wall and lunged it higher up the wall where it landed yet again firmly in the solid wall. The monks were awestruck and then grabbed a Spear of Guan each and followed in his lead.
Meanwhile, Syn had arrived in the basement of the building opposite the one where the Shen Gong Wu was located, Chase decided to sit this one out because of his recent scare and Wuya had went in his stead. They had arrived using the stolen Golden Tiger Claws; they arrived in a storeroom in an underground parking structure, making it a less oblivious exit route. The pair began to scale the parking structures stairwell until they made their way onto the top level which was open and any parked cars would be exposed to weather conditions such as rain or snow; they then approached the side of the structure planning to cross over to the next building somehow. However, they were interrupted by none other than Jack Spicer, Boy Screw-up. "Well, it looks like ol' Jack has the advantage now, you two are stuck on this parking structure and I can go right over to the building with the Shen Gong Wu with absolutely no difficulty, hahaha. No harm in cheating anyway, Jackbots! Attack!" Suddenly a swarm of robots came from the area below and advanced an attack on Synyster and Wuya, Wuya jumped back while Syn stood there as the bots shot laser cannons from their chests, the smoke rose high and Wuya had covered her face to shield from the blow; when the smoke cleared Syn stood in the same place unharmed with the Draco's Choke activated but he looked more like a ghost than a man, then regained his solid form and another roar from the Choke destroyed the robots in one wave. Wuya approached Syn swiftly and urged him to press on, "Quickly, we must move before Jack gets there before us!" Syn did not budge, and pointed to the side of their destination building, it was difficult to see but Wuya could make out the form of five monks somehow climbing the wall of the building. She panicked, but in a flash movement Synyster had taken her waist and she was enveloped in black smoke, while she felt her feet leave the ground and when she could she again, she was lying in the middle of an office with one glass wall, one panel completely smashed overlooking a parking structure. "Sorry, there was no time to explain over there and have you try to not go with it" Syn proclaimed, "And before you ask, I couldn't have given you a warning" He then made his way to the door and kicked it open, while Wuya still lay on the floor among the shattered glass. Finally she got up and they moved on.
The monks had then arrived at the roof of the building and Master Monk Guan was aware that the Wu was located a few floors down, "Clay, if you could use your powers to create a few shortcuts going down, they'd be very much appreciated", Clay then took a position in the centre of the group while the rest stood well back, "Brace yourself, and prepare for a hard landing" Dojo whispered to Master Monk Guan, whose shoulder Dojo was still resting on. All of a sudden, Clay smashed his foot into the roof and it collapsed under their feet in pieces, falling through to the next floor which was taller than anticipated, resulting in many groans and whinges from the monks, except Clay and Guan. "Sorry about that partners, guess it was a bigger drop than expected" Clay had said as he held a hand out to Raimundo to help him up. Guan peered out the window and saw a residue of a trail of black smoke, slowly dissipating by the second; at this sight he gasped and hurried to the adjacent corridor, "Come quickly monks, before the enemy gets to the Shen Gong Wu first" He beckoned, "Dojo, how many floors down is it?" He questioned; Dojo sarcastically replied, "Not sure, this running is interfering. But judging by the nostril rash, I'd say, fourrrrrrrrrrrr!" screamed Dojo as Master Monk Guan had jumped off the edge of a staircase and grabbed on to a banister four floors down, Dojo still screaming, only residing once Guan had stopped on the stairs to call forth the rest of the monks. "How does he move so swiftly?" Omi admirably asked with stars in his eyes, as he followed suit, right behind Raimundo as he glided down to the same staircase. "We must hurry if we are to get their without getting involved in a showdown" Guan roared as he rushed on, Dojo's groans following him closely.
In this time, the Heylin warriors had made quite some progress too, "Wuya, give me the Kazusu Atom! Quickly now, we don't have a moment to lose" Synyster ordered, looking up while asking for the Wu. "We're talking a shortcut" He explained, "Kazusu Atom!" the Shen Gong Wu had opened up a ray that permanently destroyed anything it touched and he drew a circle on the ceiling. Suddenly, he stopped using it and tackled Wuya to the ground some five feet away. She sat up and began yelling, "What the hell did you do tha-", but he simply rose to his feet and leaped into the next floor and shouted down, "You're welcome!" Wuya took a second glance and saw that if he hadn't tackled her to the ground, she would have been trapped under the rubble of the ceiling. She soon followed him up to the next floor where Synyster was already traversing a staircase in an open area; "Hey, hag. Over here, the Shen Gong Wu is up the ways" He called across the room. As offensive as the 'Hag' remark may have been, Wuya completely disregarded it and ran to catch up. After some travelling through maze like corridors, they reached an office with a security lock. Syn and Wuya exchanged glances before Syn reached down with his scepter blade and inserted it into the card slot. Moments later, the security lock began to spark and shock before blowing, leaving a small cloud of smoke to arise from the box. Wuya then kicked the door in when signalled to do so by Syn after he had retrieved his blade.
The monks had eventually caught up with Master Monk Guan at the beginning of what appeared to be a labyrinth of corridors and conjoined offices. "What took you so long kids, we could have the Shen Gong Wu already by now, hehe" Dojo sniggered. "Shh" Master Monk Guan had silenced the monks and Dojo; who looked like he was going to ask if he was just shushed, but resisted given it was Master Monk Guan's shoulders he rested on. Guan moved off slowly, tip-toeing his way along an adjacent hallway. The Monks followed suit and they came to a point where a conversation could be overheard; "Please…, please, just don't hurt my son, I'll do anything" a voice whimpered somewhere within one of the nearby offices. A second was heard making demands, "Good, then give me that object that sits behind your chair mister Spicer and then maybe we'll spare your son's life" snarled Synyster. Another whimpering voice was heard as they monks grew closer to the source of the negotiations, this one was very similar to the first, and sounded familiar to all but Guan. "Dad, don't do it. I can take care of myself, I promise. Just don't give it to them" Jack snivelled, closer to tears than ever, the monks almost pitied him, being held hostage in the outcome of receiving a possibly worthless Shen Gong Wu. The warriors had then approached the outer walls of what they had gathered was the office where Jack was being held hostage and took cover behind the walls outside the entrance to the office, each of them creeping up ever so slowly to avoid being detected by Syn's impossible powers. "Hurry now, Wuya. I don't want involved in a showdown with Master Monk Guan, he will not meet his downfall today" Syn then raised his hissed voice, "Isn't that right Master?"
Master Monk Guan panicked and jumped from out of cover and rushed in with his spear primed ready to engage Syn, but when he turned the corner, he noticed that Wuya was at the window ready to jump out already with the Shen Gong Wu and Syn stood next to Jack, who was also smirking. Behind the modernised office desk was one of Jack's robots, armed also; the whole hostage situation was a ploy, a distraction for them to get ready to leave. Omi and Raimundo had turned the corner as well and saw this, something that the villains had not taken into account as Syn engaged Master Monk Guan as Wuya was pulled back into the building as she began to fall out the window by the chained spears of Omi and Clay's spears of Guan. Jack was engaged in hand to hand combat with Kimiko and Raimundo had taken some of the heat of Guan by targeting Synyster as well. The office had turned into a Black Op war zone, when Wuya was dragged back into the building she hit the floor and the Shen Gong Wu had slid into the middle of the room, right in between Guan and Jack. This was greeted with a great pause of shock, so great Dojo had returned to hiding in Clay's hat like old times, and suddenly there was an overwhelming dive to the Shen Gong Wu; three people had risen from the crawled crowd. Guan, Synyster and Jack had all got their hands on the Shen Gong Wu simultaneously. The Wu was shaped like a hand with four curved fingers but someone could fit it over the outer part of their hand perfectly, it was a deep purple and had a splash insignia on the plate that made up the most of it.
"This I was trying to avoid this, but very well. Jack, Guan; I challenge you to a Xiaolin showdown!"
"Fine, I accept. I wager the Ruby of Ramses against your Draco's Choke and against your Monkey Staff, boy" snarled Guan.
"Yeah yeah, sure thing guys, what's the game?" bothered Jack
"The game is a rooftop race, first one across the city wins, and first to fall gets absolutely nothing" hissed Synyster. "On your mark, Xiaolin Showdown!"
The scenery had yet again changed as always and this time it was quite impressive. The buildings around the city had rose to extreme heights, and stood over the normal high rise. The streets below had been covered in a think dense cloud that nobody could even see through. The bystanders were moved to a high rise that towered above the entire city looking at all aspects of the complex course that Synyster had set out. There were also large chunks of buildings floating in mid-air slightly above the course; they were well laid out as they marked the course and allowed access to alternative routes by their appearance and positioning. The three competitors had teleported to an open rooftop with an overhang and the track had been laid out in front of them. "Let's make things interesting Jack. Overpower the monk." Syn whispered to Jack, who sniggered to reply his answer. "Gong Yi Tanpai!" they all yelled at once. Monk Guan had ran forward and kicked a piece of rubble into the air, jumping up and grabbing it with one hand, and with the other, used the Ruby of Ramses to move it through the air while holding the rubble. Jack and Syn acted at the same time, Jack running up and jumping off the edge, activating his Helipack as he did so, laughing aloud. Meanwhile Synyster ran up the side of the wall and used his scepter to hook onto one of the floating remains, swinging from it to the next, and landing on top. Jack and Guan had a commanding lead ahead of him, but he wasn't worried.
"Not so fast now! Are you Syn!" roared a cocky Raimundo from the podium. "Just you wait, my dear" Wuya responded, not talking her eyes of the course.
Syn was still standing where he was and used the Draco's Choke to summon another howl from it, this one slowed down time as Guan and Jack almost slowed to a stop ahead. Syn grinned and then leapt from the building pieces to one another, occasionally he would let out another shout giving him an incredible speed boost along straights. He was so majestic looking; somersaulting from platform to platform and rooftop to rooftop; he eventually caught up with Guan and Jack just before time resumed. Guan heard his laugh beside him, almost lost control of the Ruby as the rubble began to plummet slowly. He recovered and leaped onto the brickwork that he was using for transport.
"That's cheating!" screamed Kimiko.
"No good dirt bag!" moaned Clay while Omi looked red with frustration.
"On five, Jack" Syn called out, Guan could then see Jack using his high-tech watch to do something, not long after he heard a sort of whooshing sound getting louder and louder until a robot had flew in front of Jack and Guan. It had turned to face Guan and he had feared for the worst. His suspicions were correct as a cannon barrel had rolled out of the bots chest; just in time he let go of the piece of rubble and fell onto a rooftop nearby, while Syn simultaneously leaped from the rubble to the robot; that had fired already. Synyster had planted his scepter into the robots back and had opened up the control wired, controlling its path and speed.
"Thanks Jack. The Wu's all yours" granted Syn, but despite Jack's look of happiness and dash to the finish, he had not thought about Synyster's control over the robot; once he was directly behind an eager Jack, he twisted the scepter and the robot's cannon had fired. There was a bang, followed by a spark and then a screech that got quieter as Jack sank towards the clouds.
It was an assured victory for Syn, although he hadn't anticipated that Master Monk Guan was still in the game and that Jack had the Monkey Staff. Guan had caught up using the Ruby and screaming monkey noises from behind indicated that it wasn't over yet. Guan had looked at Syn with a fierce look which was returned with equal hostility; approaching a turn in the path, Guan jumped from the rubble to the platforms surrounding the course and ran on, still holding the brickwork in the Ruby's hold. Syn had an idea of what his intentions were and slowed time down yet again with another roar just as Guan had thrust the chunk of the building at him; giving Syn enough time to pass around it. The repercussions affected Jack badly as the platforms that he used had collided with the thrust rubble, giving Jack a lack of footing. He was out of the game this time and all that remained were the faint screams of an ape. The finish line was fast approaching and Guan had appeared out of the blue yet again, leaping from the platforms just as Syn had done some time ago; both competitors were neck and neck when things got risky for Synyster.
Syn's thoughts were swarming his mind, "How can I be neck and neck with somebody, I'm better than this", "What if I'm not strong enough to defeat Master Monk Guan? How can I be undermined so easily?" But eventually he thought of something that would ensure his victory. He looked towards Master Monk Guan and shouted, it was aggressive so the Draco's Choke interpreted the aggression of his voice and transferred it into raw power; this caused a roar of immense power and energy resulting in a fiery storm to rupture from the Shen Gong Wu. Guan had fallen through the clouds covered in soot and burns, just as Syn had passed by the finish line looking weakened, just about staying on the bot.
When the scenery had changed back to its normal state everyone tended their injured. Wuya had Syn in her arms while he had the wagered Shen Gong Wu at his feet; the monks were tending to Guan as he shrieked with the pain of searing burns he had sustained. "I am sorry for the unnecessary afflictions Guan, looks like you got to me, I will admit you have skills, and maybe one day we'll face off against each other for a final time. Get us outta here Wuya", the monks were left to treat Master Monk Guan and get him home safely as they gently secured him onto Dojo's back preparing for transport, Kimiko noticed Jack hunched over in a chair in the corner of the office kicking his heels against the ground like a little kid. "Aren't you leaving, Jack?" Kimiko asked; feeling slightly concerned. Jack was hesitant in his reply but finally said, "No, this is actually my dad's office so I should, um…. I should probably stick around and explain what happened" He was almost in tears like a kid, and it was a different side to Jack Spicer than what she had ever seen, for once, she pitied him.
"Yo, Kim. Let's go, Guan's safe, time to get him home!" called Raimundo from Dojo's back. She took on final glance at Jack before hopping onto Dojo's back, staring at Jack as he shrank into the distance, before being taken out of sight by the clouds.
